The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Geranium plant botanically known as Pelargonium x hortorum and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Toscat0542’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, The Netherlands during August 2013. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Geranium cultivars that flower uniformly with attractive flower coloration and a moderately vigorous, upright-mounded growth habit.
The new Geranium cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is FLOWER FAIRY White Splash ‘Swewhi’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,405, characterized by its semi-double type, pale pink and red-purple bicolored flowers, dark green-colored foliage, and vigorous, upright to rounded growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is AMERICANA Pink Mega Splash ‘Amri Pikegs’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,481, characterized by its single type, pink-colored flowers having bold red-purple blotch, medium green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, upright and rounded growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during May 2014 in a controlled environment in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since May 2014 in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, The Netherlands, Arroyo Grande, Calif. and West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.